Author: Heather London
Publisher: N/A
Release date: May 21st 2013
Pages: N/A
Genre: New Adult contemporary romance
Source: I received an ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour - thanks!
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Struggling to put her life back together after a tragic mountaineering accident kills her college sweetheart, twenty-one-year-old Holly Treadwell is trying to set aside her grief, forge ahead in school, and find herself again.My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
When Carter Hansen, a guy who brings back horrible memories from the night of the accident, finds his way back into her life, Holly’s unsure if she should let him in. He terrifies her in more ways than one and invokes feelings in her that she thought were buried forever. Regardless of her fears, she knows she must face him in order for her heart to heal.
Everyone tells Carter that what happened on the mountain that night was just a terrible accident, but even then, he can’t help but carry around the guilt and is unable to forgive himself. He’s drawn to Holly and being near her helps ease his conscience and gives him the release he needs.
As Holly and Carter’s relationship grows, they begin to realize that the more time they spend with one another, the more their wounds begin to heal—her grief and his guilt. But when Holly learns the details about the night of the accident—what everyone has been keeping from her—it will rip open old wounds and tear apart what they’ve both worked so hard to overcome…
Fall from Love is a quiet gem. It doesn't have any kind of hook that could make it a huge success, or any new and crazy topic that would make it an unforgettable read for me. It's a simple story, but one that I really enjoyed.
More than anything, Fall from Love is a love story. It's the story of Holly and Carter slowly reaching out to each other, something I really liked reading about. They start out as friend and then go back and forth about whether or not they should risk their friendship to try being something more than friends. I could see how that might annoy some readers, their constant indecisiveness and refusal to just get together already, but I for one found it interesting to read about their reluctance and all of that. My only issue is that the story stops so quickly after their final decision - I would've liked to see their relationship develop further on, to see whether their risk is worth it.
Asides from the romance, we have Holly's and Carter's individual stories. Holly's story, I really enjoyed - her grief is very real, and I liked seeing her heal and grow over the course of the novel. Carter's story, though, I found to be lacking. We get to know what his family has been through, but we never really get to see Carter dealing with that, and I wish that storyline could have been developed more.
It was really nice to read something that isn't YA for once! I love YA, but I'm glad this blog tour forced me to read something a little more mature for a change. I was actually really looking forward to reading something set in college - honestly, I had hoped it would be even more college-y. Holly doesn't live on campus, so we don't get to see a whole lot of college life. And just the feel of it all wasn't all that college-y - they're graduating, but it's never once mentioned what they're planning on doing after that. Still, I really liked reading about the college age group, even if college itself doesn't play too big a role.
I don't even know what else to say - this isn't the type of book that has me gushing about anything in particular, but I did really enjoy it as a whole. With a writing style that keeps the pages turning quickly and characters that come to life, Fall from Love is both an emotional story about loss and moving on and an insightful portrayal of love and relationships.
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Posts
This is one popular book! This has to be the third or fourth time today I've read a review about it :P Thankfully, they've all been positive and now I'm excited to read it myself!
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that this novel doesn't sound melodramatic or obvious. Every review I've read seems to underline the understated beauty of it, in that it's simply about the growth of a blossoming relationship in the face of grief. Less is often more, and it's nice to hear about a simple, understated story that appreciates this fact. I also love the friends-to-lovers trope in the romance genre so the nature of the development of the relationship between Holly and Carter sounds like something I would really enjoy.
This is a great review! It really gave me a good idea of what to expect from the novel and further underlined the fact that this is likely the perfect sort of story for me :)
Great review, Hannah! This sounds so emotionally poignant and with great characters to go through the story with. It's what I look for in this genre! I'm really happy you liked it! :)
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